The Shadow

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Jon stood there, a little dumb struck. He blinked twice and then responded. "Wha?" he said stupidly. Clothes provided? Luggage packed? He was really feeling out of control. But he was eager to see the planet where people like himself dominated. He was eager, but equally anxious. How could such a breed of people exist together and there not be caos? What sort of power could possibly rule over them all and keep order? Jon focused again on Matthew, who seemed genuinely upset.

"I.... I don't want to impose, but I would appreciate staying with someone.... I know?" he ventured. In this place he was completely alone, save for Matthew who had brought him here and saved his life. "Is there anything I should do to prepare? To perhaps help?"

[FortisUmbra]

Mathew smiled in spite of himself. John was very dependent right now and Mathew had suspected that he would want to stay with him. "There is only one thing but it will only take a second. When the planet was founded it was decided that a dead language would be best to speak so that no one culture was favored. the language chosen was Latin. your going to need to learn latin before we go. ill go get one of the telepaths and it wont be more than about ten minutes before your speaking latin like an ancient Roman." Mathew knew that he was not addressing the problem that John was really asking about, the grief that Mathew was openly showing, but he didn't want to tack about it right now. Mathew still needed time to sort things out.

before John could say anything else Mathew fell through a portal at his feet and landed in the office of a friend of his, who oddly enough had the same name as the clairvoyant who had recently told him his father was going to die.

Mary was sitting at her desk and looked up. she smiled and stood up. "I'm sorry about your Father." she said in a truly sincere voice. Mathew always found it strange to speak with her.

"I need..." Mathew said before he got cut off by Mary who said

"I know. You couldn't have gotten me at a better time. i just finished my report and have ten minutes to spare."

With this Mathew opened a portal to his left which Mary promptly stepped through and into his room.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Jon stepped back as Matthew brought a woman back through the portal he had just disappeared into. He watched as the portal closed up again and decided that he would never get used to something like that. It was very impressive. Jon met the woman's eyes, and he was immediately compelled to sit down. He started backing up and sat down on a chair. The woman approached him, grabbing antoher chair and turning it around. She placed the chair in front of Jon and straddled it. She folded her arms and peered at Jon. This made Jon feel a little uncomfortable. He started.

"What was that?" he asked, reaching up to his right ear.

"I'm sorry. I'll do this the proper way. I'm Mary." she extended her hand, and Jon stared at it. Then he quickly reached out and took it, shaking it loosely and then looked back at Mary. She smiled.

"It's alright! Now, you're going to encounter this sort of thing a lot as you spend more time here. It's better to experience it this way first so you know what to expect. At least I'm not trying to kill you." Mary shrugged at her last comment.

Jon jerked his head over to Matthew with an freaked out look on his face. Mathew knodded reassuringly. Jon looked back at Mary, his eyebrows were furrowed.

"Trust me." Mary breathed these last words out, and the full extend of her telepathy rushed over him. He slumped in his chair, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and they shook a little like he was looking at all sorts of things passing him. Mary continued to lean on the chair, she closed her eyes too, and even reached out with her hand. The clock ticked on, and when ten minutes exactly were up, she released Jon, who woke suddenly.

"Try it, my dear." Mary beckoned.

"Try.... try what?" Jon said, his throat croaky like he'd been asleep for ages.

"To speak latin now." Mary said simply.

[FortisUmbra]

Mathew sat down on a chair and continued to think while Mary started teaching John Latin. Mathew remembered the experience vividly. he never could tell the difference between latin and english anymore. the learning was almost like learning your own language. when you where done pater didn't mean father it meant pater and that was that. there was no need to translate it mental it just was. his father had once explained it to him. he had told him that when you are very young your mind makes its own language, your birth language, and as you learn a language you mind makes you understand the language as your birth language so you aren't aware that your speaking a different language. what a telepath could do was make it so that it worked for any language they wanted. this way you can speak any number of languages but not realize any difference between them when speaking.

mary lifted her head after ten minutes and started talking to john. Mathew wasn't paying attention. thinking about what his dad had told him had started hm down memory lane again. it was strange he felt like he had already lost his father but knew he still had time. He didn't know how to feel about his fathers death to come. they had always been very close before they where shunned by the family but after that they had gone their separate ways. it had been three years since he had seen or spoken to his father and now he was going to see him five days before his death?

john had started speaking nonstop in latin. he seemed to think it was really cool. Mathew sighed. he thanked Mary and let her back to her study though a portal.

[Ms. Elsewhere]

Jonathan stood up and bounded over to Matthew, the school boy in him beaming. He was still very young ,and realised he was very much so acting his age. He grinned stupidly. "That is so amazing! She.. she is amazing! I can't believe how that can happen! Wow. I wish I had her when I was learning Calculus! I never understood how to retain all the info they tried to cram into our heads but there really is a heap of room in there, in spite of everything..." Jon stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Matthew staring off.

"Oh, sorry. i guess we need to go?" Jon settled down and waited for Matthew's instructions.